For these reasons and others, Colonel Dr. Sumarno, then assistant chief of staff of personnel of the Indonesian Army, conveyed his ideas of the service of women for certain fields of assignment that required precision, perseverance, patience, and maternal qualities that became the nature of women to better achieve organizational affiliation within the ranks of the regular Army and in the reserves.

On 21 December 1960, by virtue of General Orders No.1056/12/1960 by the Commander of the National Armed Forces and Minister of Defense, General Abdul Haris Nasution, who was also then concurrently the chief of staff of the Army, the Women's Army Corps was officially created as a specialty arm of the Army for the volunteer service of women in military service as officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted servicewomen, making Indonesia one of the first Southeast Asian countries to admit women for volunteer military service in the military.

On October 5, 1963, the KOWAD made its first public appearance as part of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Day celebrations held at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex grounds.

While being a personnel Corps of the Indonesian Army, unlike other corps and specialities, it is an administrative formation that is responsible for the service of women in active duty service in the Army's combat, combat support and service support formations and since the 2021 formation of the Reserve Component, responsible for the training and specialization work of Indonesian Army lady reservists, in both cases composed of servicewomen coming from all provinces, ethnic communities, races and religions of Indonesia.

The INA-WAC is organized on similar lines as the other corps and specialities of the Army with different recruiting standards for women planning to join this senior branch of the National Armed Forces.